System and method for anonymizing a telephone number

ABSTRACT

A system and method for enabling a telephone number to be called in an anonymous manner by associating an identifier with the telephone number and providing for calling the number via the identifier. In one embodiment, the telephone call, including communication of the telephone number is performed using encryption. The identifier may be an email address or user identifier. Other users may call the telephone number via a website that operates as a virtual payphone, using software downloaded to a computer or other communication device, or by calling a voice portal, for example.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. Application No.11/526,549, filed Sep. 25, 2006 by Koushik Chatterjee and titled,“System and Method for Anonymizing a Telephone Number ” , which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Online communities have become more prevalent in recent years. Someonline communities have developed into personal websites to enableindividuals to present their lives and communicate with others.Myspace.com is one example of an online community website. Other onlinecommunity website examples include web-logs or “blogs,” chat rooms,dating websites, message boards, and other online environments on whichusers may partake in posting, writing, communicating, or interactingwith other online users. While the problems described are directed toonline environments, similar problems exist for non-online situations.

A problem that exists for online users is anonymity when online usersseek to have verbal communications apart from an online forum. Whileonline forums can provide adequate anonymity between users to avoidproblematic or dangerous situations (e.g., stalking or physical harm), asensitive situation occurs at the time that two users decide to take anonline relationship into a real world relationship. For example, in thecase of an online dating site enabling two users to meet online, ifthose users decide to take a next step to have a telephone conversation,one of the users inevitably must provide the other user with his or hertelephone number. Providing a telephone number, especially a hometelephone number, can be problematic, if not dangerous, since atelephone number can be used to locate a physical address associatedwith that phone number using a reverse lookup telephone directory orother public or non-public method. As such, online users are generallyhesitant in providing their telephone number to other online users evenif a significant online relationship exists to avoid stalking and otherdifficult situations. As understood, a caller can protect his or heranonymity by pressing “*67” prior to placing the call to block his orher caller ID, but the callee does not have an option to block his orher phone number.

One system that has been developed to enable online users to communicatevia the Internet using Internet Protocol (IP) “telephones” is providedby a company called SKYPE. This system allows users to download softwareto their computer and be listed in an online directory that other SKYPEsubscribers can access. The online directory enables subscribers to lista user name that only other SKYPE subscribers can call. An IP address ortelephone number is assigned to the SKYPE subscribers so that thesubscribers can call one another by selecting the user via the directoryor call using a phone list stored on his or her computer. While using anInternet Protocol system can provide some anonymity to users since an IPaddress is not listed in a public directory associating the IP addresswith a physical address, such a system provides little more thananonymity provided by online community systems and simply provides atelephone-like interface to users. Further, such an Internet Protocolsystem limits a user to interfacing via his or her computer, which isadditionally problematic in the event of a power failure or computerproblem.

Because of concerns of providing telephone numbers to other people forsafety and security reasons, there is a need to enable online andnon-online users to be able to have others contact them withoutproviding a telephone number.

SUMMARY

To provide additional safety and security to online and non-onlineusers, a system and method for individuals to enable others to contactthem via a telephone without providing a telephone number may beutilized. The use of such a system provides safety to individuals as itsubstantially prevents others from learning of a user's home address viathe telephone number.

One embodiment includes a system and method for establishing a user toreceive telephone calls. The method includes receiving a telephonenumber from a user, receiving an identifier to be associated with thetelephone number, and storing the telephone number in association withthe identifier to enable another user to call a telephone associatedwith the number of the user using the identifier.

Another embodiment includes a system for enabling a user to be calledanonymously. The system includes at least one computing deviceconfigured to establish a first subscnber as a customer of a firstservice provider including associating a telephone number with the firstsubscriber. A database may be in communication with the computingdevice(s) and configured (i) to store an identifier with the telephonenumber of the first subscriber and (ii) to output the telephone numberin response to said database receiving a request from a secondsubscriber of a second service provider with the identifier to look upthe telephone number associated with the first subscriber. The computingdevice(s) may further be configured to receive the looked up telephonenumber and establish a telephone connection between the first and secondsubscribers using the telephone number. Encryption may be used toconceal the telephone number used in the connection.

Yet another embodiment includes a method for receiving a telephone callanonymously. The method includes registering, by a first subscriber of afirst service provider, an identifier in association with a telephonenumber. The registering causes the identifier and not the telephonenumber to be available to subscribers of a second service provider. Atelephone call may be received from a second subscriber of the secondservice provider using the identifier to place the telephone call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which areincorporated by reference herein and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary system for service providersand application providers to provide telecommunication, onlinecommunications, and online applications to users;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an exemplary system for a service providerto provide online and/or telecommunications services to users;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an exemplary website for a user to registera telephone number in association with an identifier so that thetelephone number can be called in an anonymous manner by another user byusing the identifier to place the call;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an exemplary email communicated to a userin response to the registration process of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5A and 5B is a diagram of an exemplary interactive process forregistering a telephone number to be called;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an exemplary website for a user to lookupand call another user who has registered his or her telephone number toreceive anonymous telephone calls;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an exemplary website for a user who hasregistered his or her telephone number to be called anonymously to loginto a system to review and manage his or her call history;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an exemplary website that lists a user'scall history and enables the user to manage certain aspects thereof;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for establishing a userto receive telephone calls anonymously;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for enabling a user tobe called anonymously; and

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for receiving atelephone call anonymously.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary system 100 for serviceproviders and application providers to provide telecommunication, onlinecommunications, and online applications to users.

Service providers 102 a-102 n (collectively 102) may betelecommunication service or other communication service providers thatprovide telecommunications or other communications to customers orsubscribers 104 a-104 n (collectively 104). The service providers 102provide their services to enable customers 104 to have telephone andother communication services over telecommunication network(s) 106, suchas Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and mobile telephonenetworks, and/or network 108. The network 108 may be the Internet.

Application providers 110 a-110 n (collectively 110) may host orotherwise provide applications that users, such as customers 104, mayaccess and utilize for a variety of purposes. In one embodiment, theapplication providers 110 provide online community websites, such asmyspace.com.

Users 104 may utilize telecommunications services provided by theservice providers 102. The telecommunications may be performed via thetelecommunication networks) 106 by communicating data packets 112 overthe telecommunications network(s) 106 to a mobile telephone tower 116,to a mobile telephone 118 utilized by a subscriber 104 a or from thetelecommunications networks) 106 to a conventional telephone 120 via asignal 114, which may be an analog signal. In the case of the analogsignal 114, the telecommunications network over which the signal ispassed is likely to be the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Ineither case, both the mobile telephone 118 and telephone 120 haverespective telephone numbers associated therewith. Each of thesetelephones are generally associated with home addresses of the users towhich bills may be sent. In the case of the telephone 120, which istypically a home telephone, public telephone listings are available thatcan be accessed by the public to look up the telephone number and/orhome address of the subscriber 104 n.

Each of the subscribers 104 a and 104 n have computers 122 and 124,respectively, that may be used to access the network 108 for online orInternet activities. Data packets 126 may be used to communicateinformation via the network 108 to allow the subscriber 104 a to performonline activities. Data packets 128 may include information communicatedbetween an application provider 110 a and user 104 n using computer 124while accessing an application hosted or otherwise provided by theapplication provider 110 a.

In one embodiment, each of the subscribers 104 a and 104 n, who may alsobe considered users of a particular application may access the sameapplication over the network 108. In the event that the application isan online community, such as a dating website, the users 104 a and 104 nmay meet on the website. The meeting, of course, is a virtual meeting inthat the two users 104 a and 104 n do not physically meet while usingthe application hosted by the application provider 108. In the eventthat the two users 104 a and 104 n decide to have a real world meeting,the users 104 a and 104 n may elect to first have a telephoneconversation. In that event, either user 104 a or user 104 n mustprovide his or her telephone number to the other user. Because thetelephone numbers of those users may be public information and listed ina directory or reverse lookup directory, the users 104 a and 104 n maybe hesitant to share the telephone number with the other to avoid aproblematic situation by allowing the other user to know or somehowobtain the physical address associated with the telephone number. Inaccordance with the principles of the present invention, one or both ofthe users 104 a and 104 n may register his or her telephone number witha service provider 104 a, for example, or application provider 110 a,for example, in conjunction with an identifier, such as an email addressor user-established user identifier (user ID). Once one or both of theusers register his or her telephone number to make that telephone numberanonymous by allowing the identification associated with the telephonenumber to be used to make a telephone call, then the potential fordetermining the location of the user's residence may be significantlyreduced or eliminated. The process for registering a telephone number tobe called anonymously is further described herein below.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an exemplary system 100 for a serviceprovider 102 to provide online and/or telecommunications services tousers 104. The service provider 102 a may operate a web server 202 and acall server 204. The web server 202 may include a processor 206 thatexecutes software 208. The processor 206 may be in communication withmemory 210, input/output (I/O) unit 212, and storage unit 214. Thestorage unit 214 may store one or more databases 216 a-216 n(collectively 216). The databases 216 may store information associatedwith subscribers of the service provider 102 a. For example, thedatabases 216 may store telephone numbers, addresses, financialinformation, and other information associated with the subscribers. Inaccordance with the principles of the present invention, the same oradditional databases 216 may be utilized to store registrationinformation from subscribers or users who desire to make their telephonenumbers anonymous through the use of identifiers (e.g., email addressesor user-established users IDs). It should be understood that thedatabase that stores the information for enabling a user or subscriberto make his or her telephone number anonymous may be stored in thestorage device 214 in the web server 202 or in another storage unit (notshown) external from the web server 202 and in communication with theweb server 202.

The call server 204 may include a processor 218 that executes software220. The processor 218 may be in communication with memory 222, I/O unit224, and storage unit 226. The storage unit 226 may store databases 228a-228 n (collectively 228). The software may include a voice responsesystem, such as VOXEO®, Voice XML/IVR engine, to place calls and respondto responses by users, as understood in the art. The web server 202 andcall server 204 may be in communication with one another such thatinformation being collected and used by the two servers 202 and 204 maybe shared.

In addition, servers 230 and 232 may be in communication with thenetwork 108. The servers 230 and 232 may be in communication withstorage units 234 and 236, respectively. The storage unit 234 may storeone or more databases 238 a-238 n (collectively 238). Storage unit 236may store one more databases 240 a-240 n (collectively 240). Thedatabases 238 and 240 may be electronic number (“ENUM”) databases, suchas one managed by a company NeuStar®, as understood in the art. Inaddition, the databases may be managed by other service providers andaccessed via the network 108 by the service provider 102. In oneembodiment, the information associated with enabling a subscriber tomake his or her telephone number anonymous via an identifier may bestored in one or more of the databases shown in FIG. 2.

In operation, the web server 202 may enable subscribers 104 to access awebsite hosted by the web server 202 or other server (not shown) incommunication with the web server 202. The website may be accessed bythe subscribers via personal computers or other electronic communicationdevices capable of accessing the web pages of the website. The users mayutilize the website to register to make their telephone number(s)anonymous by providing an identification for other users to call thosetelephone numbers using the identifier without knowing the actualtelephone number. In one embodiment, the software 208 may provide a“virtual payphone,” whereby other users may call the registeredsubscribers or users who have made their telephone numbers anonymoususing the associated identifiers. If the other users use the virtualpayphone website interface, then the other users may use a computer withvoice communication capabilities or other IP device that is capable ofaccessing a web page and have voice communication capability.Alternatively, the call server 204 may include software 220 thatprovides voice portal capabilities, whereby a user may call the voiceportal and communicate the identifier information such that the callserver 204 may connect the caller with the callee. Still yet, oneembodiment causes software to be downloaded to a user's computer tooperate as an encrypted telephone interface for placing calls to a userwho has anonymized his or her telephone. In another embodiment, softwaremay be downloaded to a mobile phone or other wireless communicationdevice and enable a user to look up a user identifier and call the userwithout knowing the telephone number as the software may access adatabase that associates the user identifier with the user's telephonenumber. It should be understood that the call server 204 or another callserver in communication with the web server 202 located elsewhere on thetelecommunication network 106 and/or network 108 may be utilized in thesame or similar manner.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an exemplary website 300 for a user toregister a telephone number in association with an identifier so thatthe telephone number can be called in an anonymous manner by anotheruser calling the identifier. The website may include a number of textinput fields, such as name 302, user ID 304, email address 306, andemail address confirmation 308. Further, a text input field may be usedto receive a user's telephone number 310. As indicated, the telephonenumber is hidden from other users attempting to call a user who has“anonymized” his or her telephone number. A text input field may be usedto receive a password 312 so that the user may access his or her accountto manage and view a telephone call history (see FIG. 8). In addition,depending upon how the system is configured, the website may enable auser to enter credit card information 314 and 316 and/or discount codeinformation 318 via text input fields. The credit card information maybe used to allow other users to call the user anonymizing his or hertelephone number free of charge (e.g., 800 number or other number) andthe discount code may be used to enable callers to call the registereduser at a discount or no cost. However, one embodiment enables users toanonymize his or her telephone number free of charge.

In addition, the user who is anonymizing his or her telephone number mayprovide profile information in a portion 320 of the website. The profileinformation may provide for text input fields that include age 322, city324, homepage 326, profession 328, and comments 330. It should beunderstood that other and/or different profile information may berequested from users. The profile information may be displayed whenother users are looking up the user on a directory so that other usersmay confirm that the user he or she is attempting to call is, in fact,the person that they expected to be calling. Some or all of thisinformation may be displayed depending upon who the calling party is orhow the user sets up his or her account.

An icon or other indicia 332 may be provided to enable a user to selector click to anonymize other telephone numbers or add other identifiersto existing phone numbers. In other words, if a user has more than onetelephone number, he or she may anonymize each of these telephonenumbers and provide different identifiers for each of the phone numbers.As shown, the identifiers may include name, user ID, or email address.Any one of these identifiers may be used to contact the user via theassociated telephone number. For example, the user who is anonymizinghis or her telephone number may provide a user ID, such as a nickname orotherwise, and a user attempting to call the user may use a directoryand enter the user ID to call the anonymous telephone number withoutknowing the telephone number. The user may also have multipleidentifiers associated with a single telephone number so that the userwho anonymizes his or her telephone number may use different user nameon different websites and know that an incoming call is from anotheruser from a particular website during an announcement prior to a callbeing connected as described further herein. For example, the user mayuse one user name on a dating website (e.g., match.com) and another username on a personal profile webpage (e.g., myspace.com). The registrationinformation entered by the user may be stored in the databases 216 (FIG.2) of the service provider 102 a or elsewhere.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an exemplary email 400 communicated to auser in response to the registration process of FIG. 3. The email mayinclude header information 402 to identify that the email was fromphononymizer@embarq.com to jessjohnson@hotmail.com with a subject of“anonymized phone number confirmation.” A message 404 may becommunicated in the email 400 to the user to indicate that the user'stelephone number has been anonymized. It further gives instruction tothe user to let them know how other users can lookup and contact themusing their identifier (e.g., name, user ID, or email address). Asshown, the other users may access a website or voice portal to access aregistry of user names to call the anonymized telephone number of theuser. Further, the user may be provided link 406 to enable the user tolog into his or her account to set up various aspects of his or heraccount.

FIG. 5A is a diagram of an exemplary interactive processes 500 a forregistering a telephone number to be called anonymously. As shown, anumber of components and users may be included as part of the process500 a. The components may include a web server 502, call server 504, andcalling name (CNAM) database 506. The users or subscribers may include acaller 508, who may access the web server 502 and/or call server 504using a computer or IP enabled device, and registrant/callee 510 who mayaccess the web server and call server using a computer and telephone. Inaddition, an online application 512 may be provided by an applicationprovider that the caller 508 and callee 510 may access via the Internetor otherwise.

The process starts at step 514 where the registrant/callee 510registers. The registration may be performed via a computer accessing awebsite hosted by the web server 502. At step 516, registrationinformation that is registered by the registrant 510 may be stored inthe CNAM database 506. The registration information may include theregistrant's name, telephone number, identifier, and so on. The webserver 502 may send a confirmation email to the registrant 510 at step518.

At step 520, the registrant 510 may access the online application 512 tocommunicate with the caller 508. It should be understood that the caller508 and registrant/callee 510 may be users on an online communitywebsite, such as a dating service website. The registrant 510 mayprovide contact information to the caller 508 via the online application512. For example, the registrant 510 may email the caller 508 on theonline application 512. The contact information may be obtained by thecaller 508 at step 522. It should be understood that the contactinformation may be provided from the registrant 510 to the caller 508 inmany different ways depending on the type of communication beingperformed by the registrant 510 and caller 508. For example, if asoftware program is downloaded to the caller's computer to place callsto anonymized telephone numbers, then a caller can place the call viathat software. The contact information may be an identifier to be usedon a virtual payphone system or other communication interface to enablethe caller 508 to call the callee 510 without knowing the callee'stelephone number. At step 524, the caller 508 may look up contactinformation of the callee 510 via the web server 502 or enter theidentifier in a text entry field to simply call the callee 510 (See FIG.6). The web server 502 may request the telephone number at step 526 fromthe CNAM database 506. At step 528, the telephone number may be receivedby the web server 502. As shown, the telephone number is nevercommunicated to the caller to ensure that the callee's telephone numberremains anonymous. Encryption may be used to hide the telephone numberfrom others on the network. The encryption may be used for the telephonenumber or for additional information (e.g., data of the conversation)being communicated over the network between the web server 502 and thecallee and caller. The encryption technique may be in accordance withany encryption technique as understood in the art.

The process 500 a continues at step 530 where a telephone call isinitiated from the web server to the call server 504. The call server504 may call the callee 510 at step 532. During the telephone call, thecall server 504 may announce the caller 508 if the caller 508 providescaller name or other information associated with him or herself (e.g.,name associated with a credit card) the caller. Additionally, the callserver 504 may provide the callee 510 with one or more options that thecallee 510 may select. For example, the options may include enabling thecallee 510 to be connected with the caller 508, disconnect the caller508, block the caller 508, or disconnect the caller 508 and connect toan operator to report the caller 508 as an unwanted caller. Inassociation with the options, the announcement may request that thecallee 510 press or say numbers (e.g., “press “1” to accept the callfrom Bob from Dallas, press “2” to disconnect the call, press “3” toblock the calls press “0” to connect with an operator”). In selectingthe options, the callee 510 may press a number on a keypad of thetelephone associated with the telephone number or respond verbally ifthe call server 504 is configured for voice responses to the options.The selection occurs at step 532. At step 536, the call server 504communicates the selected option to the web server 502. The web server502 stores the call information in the CNAM database 506. If the callee510 selected the option to connect to the caller 508, then the partiesare connected at steps 540 a, 540 b, and 540 c. As shown, the web server502 and/or call server 504 may be part of the communication link betweenthe caller 508 and callee 510 to ensure anonymous communication from thecaller 508 to the callee 510.

FIG. 5B is a diagram of an exemplary interactive process 500 b forenabling a user to anonymize his or her telephone number. The process isthe same as the process shown in FIG. 5A through step 522, where thecaller 508 obtains the contact information (e.g., identifier of theregistrant/callee 510) via the online application 512. At step 542, thecaller 508 may use a telephone to call the call server 504 for thecallee 510 using the contact information provided by the callee 510.Payment information for placing the call may also be provided by thecaller 508 at this step. The call server 504 may receive the contactinformation verbally, if using voice recognition software, or via adual-tone multiple frequency (DTMF) signal from a keypad of thetelephone of the caller 508 if configured to receive and process DTMFsignals. At step 544, the call server 504 may request the callee'stelephone number from the CNAM database 506 using the contactinformation. The CNAM database 506 may respond so that the call server504 receives the telephone number of the callee 510 at step 546.

At step 548, the call server 504 may contact the callee 510. The callmay include an announcement to the callee 510 of the caller 508 usingcaller-supplied identification information and/or provide options to thecallee 510 for accepting or rejecting the telephone call as described inmore detail with regard to FIG. 5A. The caller information may berequested by the caller server 504 in response to receiving the call atstep 542 from the caller 508. At step 550, the callee 510 may select anoption, if presented, and the option is delivered to the call server 504at step 550. At step 552, the call information may be stored by the callserver 504 in the CNAM database 506. At steps 554 a and 554 b, thecaller 508 and callee 510 may be connected to speak on the telephone.The call server 504 may remain in the communication path to ensure thatthe callee's telephone number remains anonymous.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an exemplary website 600 for a user tolookup and call another user who has registered his or her telephonenumber to receive anonymous phone calls. The user may enter the contactinformation of the user he or she is attempting to call in a text entryfield. For example, the contact information may include an email address602, user ID 604, name 606, or PIN number 608. Any one of these contactinformation possibilities may be utilized in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. To pay for the call, the caller mayenter a name on a credit card 610, credit card number 612, credit cardtype 614, and expiration date 616. Alternatively, the caller may payusing a debit card, PayPal, or other online payment service asunderstood in the art. A discount code 618 may be utilized if providedby a third party so that the caller does not have to pay. Such adiscount code may be provided by a retailer, for example, to inspirecallers to call and place orders, purchases, or otherwise contact theretailer. In addition, the user may provide a user ID, name, ordescription that may be announced to the callee in a text entry field620. It should be understood, however, that the announcement may includea name on the credit card being used to pay for the telephone call.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an exemplary website 700 for a user who hasregistered his or her telephone number to be called anonymously to loginto a system to review and manager his or her call history. As shown,the user may enter an email address 702 or user ID 704, a personalidentification number (PIN) 706 and/or password 708. It should beunderstood that any log-in technique as understood in the art may beutilized in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an exemplary website 800 that lists auser's call history and enables the user to manage certain aspectsthereof. As shown, the website 800 may include a list of call historyinformation. The call history may include names or other information ofa person who purchased calls to the user, caller ID information ofpersons who called the user, and phone numbers that called the user.Selection mechanisms may be provided for the user to select whether ornot to block one or more callers. The call blocking may enable thesystem to block a caller based on a name, credit card number, telephonenumber, user ID, or any other identifier associated with a blocked user.Still yet, a user may block all callers who block their caller ID byuser “*67” before placing the call as understood in the art. Inaddition, identifiers of who was called may be provided in the list. Asshown, the identifiers include “jwelch@hotmail.com” and “j_the_man,”thereby indicating that the same telephone number called to the user hadtwo different identifiers associated with that telephone number.Additionally, date and time information and duration of the callinformation may be provided in the call history list.

In addition to managing call history, a user may manage his or herprofile. Profile management may be important to some users who want toprevent calls to the anonymized telephone during certain hours or limitcalls to a particular identifier (e.g., email address) during certaintimes. For example, a user may access a webpage (not shown) and settimes (e.g., 2:00am and 8:00pm) between which calls are unable to beplaced to the anonymized telephone number. There may be many reasons forlimiting callers to call the anonymized telephone number. For example,the user may work at home and only want professional calls to be placedto the anonymized telephone number during business hours, the user mayhave children who the user does not want to have contact with his or heronline contacts, and so on.

The principles of the present invention may provide many features andservices that are not possible with conventional telephone systems.However, many conventional telephone services may be utilized inaccordance with the principles of the present invention, including callforwarding, call waiting, caller ID, etc.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 900 for establishing auser to receive telephone calls anonymously. The process 900 starts atstep 902. At step 904, a telephone number is received from a user. Thetelephone number may be associated with a telephone connected to apublic switch telephone network or mobile telephone system, for example.It should be understood that the telephone may be connected to anytelecommunications network At step 906, an identifier to be associatedwith the telephone number may be received. The identifier may be anemail address, user-established user ID, or any other identifierassociated with the telephone number. At step 908, the telephone numberis stored in association with the identifier to enable a telephoneassociated with the telephone number to be called. In one embodiment,the telephone number and identifier are stored in a calling namedatabase managed by a telecommunications service provider.Alternatively, the telephone number and identifier may be stored in anyother database located on a network that may be looked up during atelephone call to the user from any other user of a telecommunicationsservice provider telecommunications services. The process 900 ends atstep 910.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 1000 for enabling auser to be called anonymously. The process 1000 starts at step 1002. Atstep 1004, a communication from a first subscriber of a first serviceprovider to place a telephone call to a second subscriber of a secondservice provider is received. The communication includes an identifierassociated with the second subscriber. At step 1006, the telephonenumber of the second subscriber is looked up in response to receivingthe identifier. At step 1008, a telephone connection is establishedbetween the first and second subscribers of the first and second serviceproviders using the looked-up telephone number associated with theidentifier. The process 1000 ends at step 1010. By utilizing thisprocess, the callee's telephone number remains anonymous to the caller.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 1100 for receiving atelephone call anonymously. The process 1100 starts at step 1102. Atstep 1104, a first subscriber of a first service provider may registeran identifier in association with a telephone number. The identifier andnot the telephone number may be available to subscribers of a secondservice provided by the registration. By making the identifiersavailable and not the telephone numbers, the telephone numbers remainanonymous to others attempting to look up the first subscriber. At step1106, a telephone call from the second subscriber of a second serviceprovider using the identifier to place the call may be received. Theprocess 1100 ends at step 1108.

The previous detailed description is of a small number of embodimentsfor implementing the invention and is not intended to be limiting inscope. One of skill in this art will immediately envisage the methodsand variations used to implement this invention in other areas thanthose described in detail. The following claims set forth a number ofthe embodiments of the invention disclosed with greater particularity.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for establishing a user to receivetelephone calls, the method comprising: receiving, at a web server, atelephone number from a first user; receiving, at the web server, anidentifier, supplied by the first user, to be associated with thetelephone number; storing the telephone number in association with theidentifier; providing, via the web server, a registry of identifierssearchable by a plurality of users, the registry including theidentifier; receiving, at the web server, a selection of the identifierfrom a second user, via the registry of identifiers, desiring tocommunicate with the first user at a telephone associated with thetelephone number; retrieving, at the web server, the telephone numberassociated with the identifier; initiating, with the web server, acommunication to the telephone number associated with the identifier;and connecting the second user with the communication to the telephonenumber to provide communication between the first user and the seconduser, wherein the telephone number is concealed from the second userthroughout the communication between the second user and the first user.2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the telephonenumber includes receiving a telephone number configured to operate onthe public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a mobile telephonenetwork.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving anidentifier includes receiving an email address.
 4. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein receiving an identifier includes receiving auser-established user ID.
 5. The method according to claim 1, whereinstoring includes storing the telephone number and identifier in adatabase configured to enable the telephone to be looked up via theidentifier.
 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingstoring a password in association with the telephone number andidentifier.
 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingstoring personal profile information of the user in association with thetelephone number and identifier.
 8. The method according to claim 1,wherein the database is further configured to store information to blockparticular users from using the identifier to communicate with the firstuser.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the database isfurther configured to store times during which the identifier can beused to communicate with the first user.
 10. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the communication between the first user and the seconduser is a telephone call.
 11. A system for establishing a user toreceive telephone calls, the system comprising: a web server; and adatabase in communication with the server, the database configured tostore a registry of identifiers searchable by a plurality of users, eachof the identifiers associated with one or more telephone numbers,wherein the web server is programmed to: host a website with aninterface for a first user to enter a telephone number and anidentifier; receive the identifier, supplied by the first user, to beassociated with the telephone number; store the telephone number in theregistry, in association with the identifier; provide a registry ofidentifiers to a second user, the registry including the identifier;receive a selection of the identifier from the second user desiring tocommunicate with the first user at a telephone associated with thetelephone number; retrieve the telephone number associated with theidentifier; initiate a communication to the telephone number associatedwith the identifier; and connect the second user with the communicationto the telephone number to provide communication between the first userand the second user, wherein the telephone number is concealed from thesecond user throughout the communication between the second user and thefirst user.
 12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the telephonenumber is a telephone number configured to operate on the publicswitched telephone network.
 13. The system according to claim 11,wherein the identifier is an email address.
 14. The system according toclaim 11, wherein the identifier is a user- established user ID.
 15. Thesystem according to claim 11, wherein the database is configured toenable a users to look up the telephone number via the identifier. 16.The system according to claim 11, wherein the database is furtherconfigured to store a password in association with the telephone numberand identifier.
 17. The system according to claim 11, wherein the webserver is further configured to store personal profile information ofthe user in association with the telephone number and identifier. 18.The system according to claim 11, wherein the database is furtherconfigured to store information to block particular users from using theidentifier to communicate with the first user.
 19. The system accordingto claim 11, wherein the database is further configured to store timesduring which the identifier can be used to communicate with the firstuser.
 20. The system according to claim 11, wherein the communicationbetween the first user and the second user is a telephone call.